Charts and graphs are a great way to visualize data and understand what it means. These visualizations help you identify trends and make critical strategic decisions accordingly. For example, you can use a React bar chart to visualize categorical data and compare different categories. Similarly, a line chart can depict continuous data over time. You can even use charts to enhance productivity. For instance, you can use a flow chart for task distribution, an organizational chart to clearly define each employee’s role, and so on. However, visualizing data isn’t enough – you must ensure your visualization is easy to understand. One way to do that is to use the right colors for charts from the data visualization color palette. In this article, we’ll discuss why it’s crucial to use the right colors for charts, and how to use different chart color schemes to make your visualizations more effective. Why Is It Important To Choose Proper Colors For Charts?
Data visualizations should be visually appealing. However, the primary purpose of a chart or graph is to communicate key results. For this reason, it’s crucial to use the right graph color schemes. For instance, if you use colors for charts that aren’t visually distinct, it will be difficult for viewers to tell them apart and interpret the chart. You should use colors that make it easy to communicate the key information. Using the right and consistent colors for charts automatically makes them beautiful. Also, it’s not necessary to always use colors for every chart element. Sometimes it’s best to use a neutral color like grey for most elements, while you should use bright colors for the most significant data points. You can use a color scheme creator to generate a visually distinct data visualization color palette for your charts. You can then use this palette for most of your charts, such as bar charts, pie charts, or maps.
What Are Different Types Of Color Pallete For Charts?
When you’re working with data visualizations, there are three main types of color palettes that you can choose from. In this section, you’ll learn each one in detail. So, let’s get into it!
Qualitative Palette
You can use a qualitative palette when you have categorical data or variables with distinct names, but there is no specific ordering. Some examples of categorical variables are countries, states, or race. When using the qualitative palette, every variable is assigned one color from the palette. Typically, a categorical palette should have a maximum of 10 unique colors. If you add too many colors to the palette, it’ll be difficult to comprehend the chart. Retro Metro
The Retro Metro color set features vibrant and bold hues, including red, purple, various shades of yellow, and green. This type of data visualization color palette adds a lively and energetic feel to any design. Additionally, it makes them ideal for creating a dynamic and eye-catching palette.
Dutch Field
The Dutch Field color set offers a vibrant palette ideal for creating eye-catching charts. Its colors include vivid shades of pink, orange, and blue adding a lively touch to your visualizations. These colors can help highlight key data points and make your charts more engaging and dynamic.
River Nights
This color set consists of multiple shades of blue that are easily distinguishable, as well as some other bright and dark shades of different colors. Overall, this color palette for charts offers a balanced mix suitable for a range of design projects.
Spring Pastels
Spring Pastels is a delightful palette featuring soft hues perfect for charts. It includes gentle greens, soft pinks, and warm yellows, evoking a sense of freshness and vibrancy. These colors are ideal for depicting light-hearted or cheerful data, adding a touch of whimsy to your visualizations.
Sequential Palette
Sequential palettes are best for when you’re dealing with variables that have numeric values or a specific sequence or order. When you’re using a sequential palette, colors are assigned to variables or values based on lightness or hue. Generally, higher values are assigned darker colors, while lower values have lighter colors, especially when the background of the visualization is white or some very light color. Additionally, if your dashboard’s theme is light, it’s best to use light-to-dark sequential palettes. However, for dark-themed dashboards, a dark-to-light color palette for charts is a better choice.
Blue to Yellow
The Blue to Yellow color set features a variety of shades within each color, providing a rich and diverse palette. Each shade of blue and yellow is distinct, making them easy to differentiate.
Grey to Red
The “Grey to Red” palette blends various shades of grey with a spectrum of red hues. This data visualization color palette offers a range of neutral and bold tones, making it versatile for different design needs. This combination can evoke a sense of sophistication and warmth in visual compositions.
Black to Pink
The “Black to Pink” palette combines dark and bright shades for a striking contrast. Transitioning from black to vibrant pink, it evokes sophistication and playfulness. Ideal for impactful designs, it adds depth and visual interest.
Blues
An all-blue color palette, offering shades from deep navy to light sky blue. Ideal for creating a calming and professional feel, evoking trust and reliability. Versatile and suitable for various design projects, conveying stability and confidence.
Diverging Palette
When your numeric data has a central value like zero, it’s best to use a diverging palette. This color palette for charts is made by combining two sequential palettes, but there is a shared endpoint at the central value. The colors on one side of the center are assigned to values that are smaller than the center, and the colors on the other side are assigned to values larger than the center.
Blue to Red
Blue to Red” palette: neutral center with blue shades on one side and red shades on the other. Ideal for data visualization and design, offering a balanced yet vibrant contrast. Suitable for various applications, from charts to graphic elements.
Orange to Purple
The gradient from orange to purple is a captivating blend of warmth and depth, offering a visually engaging spectrum. The vividness of orange contrasts beautifully with the depth of purple, creating a lively and harmonious palette.
Pink Foam
The Pink Foam palette features a central neutral color flanked by shades of pink and blue. Its balanced blend offers versatile options for various artistic projects and best color for pie charts.
Salmon to Aqua
The transition from Salmon to Aqua in this palette features a striking dark shade at its center, adding depth and contrast to the overall color scheme. This central hue serves as a bold focal point, enhancing the visual impact of the gradient.
Discrete And Continuous Palette
We can associate sequential and diverging palettes with data values as a discrete set of colors, where each color is assigned to a numeric range or continuous function. A color palette for charts generator typically lets you create discrete palettes. However, data visualization tools are also capable of building a continuous association.
How To Choose Colors For Charts?
Read the below mentioned points to understand the right colors for charts:
Don’t Use Distracting Colors
It’s important to choose colors that make it easier to understand and interpret the chart. For example, you should avoid using colors that are too bright or too dark. Avoid Opposite Colors
Using a color palette for charts that are totally on the opposite side of the color wheel chart can confuse the viewers and divert their attention away from the data.
Use Data Theme Friendly Colors
You should try to use colors that reflect the theme of your data to make the visualizations easier to understand. Same Color Shades For Different Values
Using different shades of the same color on the chart helps create a uniform appearance. As a result, viewers can focus more on data, instead of getting distracted by the colors. However, while selecting the best colors for pie charts you should ensure the colors are easily distinguishable.
Color Consistency
Another critical point to remember is to keep the colors consistent. For instance, it’s not recommended to use red on one chart and green on another chart in the same report. Highlight Important Sections With Light Colors
While you should use colors in a way that doesn’t distract viewers from the data, sometimes you need to highlight important sections to make the readers focus on a particular data point. A dark shade of the same color can also be used if you don’t want to use an entirely different color. Avoid Reliance On Just Colors
It’s crucial to consider this point to ensure that your charts are also easily readable for the color-blind. Additionally, if you want to attend to color blindness, avoid using colors like shades of red and green that can cause confusion for color-blind. Black Text Is King
Black text is usually the easiest to read for everyone. However, if your chart’s background is black or some other dark color, you should use white text. Color Differentiation Requires A Grayscale
An easy but effective way to check if the shades of your palette are different enough for anyone to distinguish is to make your image grayscale. Avoid Over-Using Colors
Using proper colors for data visualization is important. However, you should only use them where appropriate. Not every chart requires multiple colors. What Tools Can You Use For Chart/Graph Colors?
Below are some of the best tools that you can use to select and test colors palette for charts:
ColorBrewer
ColorBrewer is a free online tool that allows you to select the right color palette for charts. It offers a range of color schemes for qualitative, diverging, and sequential palettes. Data Color Picker
Data color picker is another easy-to-use tool for creating diverging and sequential data visualization color palette quickly. You can use the default Palette tab to create multi-hue sequential palettes.
Chroma.js Color Palette Helper
Chroma.js Color Palette Helper is a great tool for creating diverging and sequential palettes for your visualizations. It provides several useful options, such as correct lightness and bezier interpolation. It also tells you whether the palette is colorblind-safe. Color Thief
This is a unique tool that lets you create a qualitative palette by extracting the palette from uploaded images. However, you may sometimes need to modify the palette to ensure it works well with your visualizations. Viz Palette
This tool allows you to check your data visualization colors palette before you implement them on your visualizations.
Conclusion
Choosing the right data visualization color palette is crucial for clear, impactful charts. With a clear understanding of the three main types of palettes ( qualitative, sequential, diverging) and how to use them effectively, you can create visualizations that enhance communication and user experience. Remember to prioritize accessibility and consider tools to create colorblind-safe palettes. With a strategic approach to color, your charts will transform data into a compelling story.
Are You Looking To Create High-Performance Charts (With Proper Colors) For Your Web Apps?
One of the best ways to create React charts or JavaScript charts for your web apps is to use FusionCharts. FusionCharts is a leading JavaScript charting library that offers more than 100 different types of charts and graphs. It also comes with 2000+ choropleth maps (covering countries and cities), pre-built dashboards, and many other helpful features. Additionally, it lets you choose different color themes for your visualizations. FusionCharts also offers a
React chart framework for creating interactive React charts with proper colors.
Sign up for FusionCharts and try its exciting features today! FAQs
How to use colors in charts?
Use color in charts for clarity, not decoration. Choose contrasting colors and assign them meaning (e.g. red = bad, green = good). Keep colors consistent across charts for the same data. Opt for colorblind-friendly palettes.
What is the best color to use in a chart?
There isn’t one “best” color for charts, as the most effective choice depends on what you’re trying to communicate. While considering best colors for pie charts consider factors like the type of data (categorical vs sequential), color blindness accessibility, and brand guidelines. Opt for colors with high contrast for easy distinction, and use lightness or hue variations to represent value changes in sequential data.
What is the best way to use color in a visualization?
For clear visualizations, use a few colors (3-10) with contrasting shades for comparisons and single colors for trends. Consider color meaning (red=hot) and prioritize accessibility for colorblind viewers.
How do you use a color palette effectively?
Choose 3-5 colors for your design: a main one (60%), a secondary (30%), and an accent (10%). Pick colors based on mood (calm, energetic) and use color theory for harmony or contrast. Ensure good contrast for readability.